Monthly Archives: November 2010

Feeling like a King

Once upon a time, I heard from our good friend Alex that drinking beer in the shower makes you feel like a king.

One day the other week I was taking a shower, thinking about food. No surprise there. Hmmm, I was thinking, how could I combine the idea of twice baked potatoes and the idea of crash hot potatoes in an iron skillet to produce layers of magic in my mouth? It’s a question I’ve been pondering for a few months, on and off. As my brain happily perused images of heavy cream, garlic, chives, and indecent amounts of shredded cheese, suddenly, out of the blue, it hit me–

–today was the day to test the beer in the shower thing that I’d been hearing about for years. I don’t know what brought it to mind during this shower as opposed to any other; I can only call it ‘destiny.’ I realized at the same moment that I had a responsibility to my blogging friends to report back on this combination of cleanliness and drink and hot water. Did it really make you feel like a king? Or was Alex just leading me down the primrose path? I was going to get to the bottom of this pronto.

My first thought was contamination. I had visions of my Tres Semme shampoo leaking its way into my beer supply and destroying the whole experience. But don’t worry! It was only after all the chemical processing was over–shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and Noxzema–that I lifted my voice:

“Honey!” I cried out above the noise of the shower, “Could you please bring me a beer?”

“A beer?”

*pregnant pause*

“Yes, a beer!”

It’s a testament to my husband’s faith, goodwill, and general goodness of soul that the beer was promptly delivered, no further questions asked.

He handed over the beer.

I opened the can safely away from the streams of shower water.

I returned to the comforts of the hot water.

Then I took that first, gloriously cool sip.

Analyze your feelings. Be objective, I told myself. People expect cold, hard, reporting from your blog. You can’t let them down.

So here’s the cold, hard truth, and I hope you’re ready for it:

I wouldn’t say I felt exactly like a king.

. . . maybe like an earl. Or a duke. Or maybe even the squire of a duke.

This could be a result of the following:

-I only drank 4 sips. I can never finish a beer anyway.

-Hamm’s is the cheapest beer at $3.29 for a 6-pack

I have had chocolate in the shower once or twice, and I would tend to say that beats out beer–I believe further testing is required though. Note to self: keep candy tray with assortment of chocolates in shower area for analytic experimentation. Track results over the next 10 years, and report back.

And that about wraps it all up. Come back Monday for an in-depth analysis of my experience eating sushi while sky diving, and my other experience having high tea while deep-sea diving. Did I feel like a king, an outlaw, a princess, or a mere scullery wench? The answers are not to be missed!

*Note/disclaimer: don’t drink in the shower. You could get hurt.

Pumpkin Fettuccine Alfredo

Happy Thanksgiving!

You probably have pumpkin coming out your ears. In fact, you may at this very moment in time be digging into a slice of pumpkin pie. But I am taking a risk and sending one more pumpkin recipe out there. I figure by the end of the day some of you may have leftover or half-used cans of pumpkin puree, and this dish will give that puree a delicious home.

I found the idea for this recipe on a blog I frequent called The Pajama Chef. Sarah christened the first week of November ‘Pumpkin week’ and posted daily pumpkin recipes. When I pulled up her blog one morning and saw her recipe for what she called ‘Pumpfredo’ sauce, I was intrigued.

Mustard? Yogurt? Pumpkin? Huh?

I just had to try it.

Her version is very healthy–yogurt, no butter, no cream, and only 2 Tablespoons of cheese. But I couldn’t bear to make it with no whipping cream! I had a huge carton of it just sitting in my fridge! So my version has cream. And I had just bought 2 big wedges of Parmesan on sale at the grocery store . . . so I used at least 5 times as much Parmesan as she did. Oh, and because I can’t leave well enough alone, I also added butter. I’m sorry Sarah! I had to follow my heart. And the heavy whipping cream and I go back . . . far back. I hope you understand. My loyalties are deep.

Guys, it’s creamy. It’s rich–but not too rich. With a cup of pure pumpkin puree in it, it’s bound to have some health value. If I had picky eaters around my table, this would be a great way to sneak some veggies into their dinner equation. Of course if I have kids, my plans dictate they will be consummate eaters of things like brussel sprouts. Spinach. Salads.

Things even I rejected as a child.

But that’s why we’re fathering the next generation–so that they can go above and beyond us. Right?

Anyway, let’s get this pumpkin pasta on the table. We’ve got things to do, places to go, stuff to see, and they all involve a plate of this creamalicious orange stuff.

Ingredients

(Serves 5)

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 teaspoons dijon mustard or spicy brown mustard

1 tablespoon fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried sage

3/4 c heavy whipping cream

1 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided

salt to taste

lots of freshly ground black pepper

2 TBS butter

1 lb pasta, cooked

Place the pumpkin puree (please note: not the same thing as pumpkin pie filling!), mustard, sage, chicken broth in a saucepan.

Give ‘er a good old-fashioned whisk to meld it all together.

Cover and heat to boiling, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for at least 20 minutes or until sauce thickens. When you uncover the old girl, the sauce should pass the ‘drag’ test–if you drag a spatual across the pan, the area should not immediately refill with liquid.

With the heat still on low, add the Parmesan cheese, the butter and the cream.

Cook for 10 minutes over medium-low, stirring frequently, and let it thicken and become glorious.

Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. I happen to like tons of black pepper in mine. I also recommend adding a solid amount of salt, since once the sauce coats the pasta, the levels of saltiness will need to carry the whole dish through.

Pour the sauce into the cooked pasta . . .

. . . and stir to mix all that lovely goodness together, where it was meant to be from the dawn of time.

Heck yes!

 

Let it sit for a few minutes to ‘set.’

Serve ‘er up, garnished with some extra sage and parmesan.

She’s a beaut alright.

Grab a fork and dig in!

The pumpkin flavor is there, but it’s not screaming at you. It’s perfect its subtle creaminess.

This would be perfect served with a little leftover turkey. Uh huh.

Enjoy, my friends! I hope you’re all having a beautiful day with family and friends . . .

Of course, I’m just remembering this is the internet. And not all of you live in the US. In fact, Canadians are waaaay over Thanksgiving. They had theirs ages ago.

So for my international friends–I love you too. Make this fettuccine. Amen.

Click here for printer-friendly version: Pumpkin Fettuccine Alfredo